Smoky courgette pasta salad recipe
Dust off the tongs and light up the grill and treat yourself to a midweek barbecue dinner with this simple pasta salad. Chargrilling the courgette ribbons helps add smoky, caramelised flavours which is balanced out with a cooling, zesty lemon yogurt mix.
See method- Serves 4
- 35 mins plus BBQ preheating
- 490 calories / serving
Ingredients
- 350g courgettes, trimmed and sliced lengthways into 5mm-thick strips
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 350g penne
- ½ lemon, zested and juiced
- 250g cherry tomatoes, halved
- 150g low-fat natural yogurt
- ½ garlic clove, crushed
- 100g salad cheese, crumbled
- ¼ cucumber, coarsely grated
- 10g fresh parsley, finely chopped
Each serving contains
- Energy
- 2070kJ 490.0kcal
- Fat
- 14g
- Saturates
- 4g
- Salt
- 0.8g
- Sugars
- 13g
of the Reference intake
Carbohydrate 78.1gProtein 17.6gFibre 6.7g
Method
- If using a charcoal barbecue, preheat at least 40 mins before you want to cook. It’s ready when the large flames have died down and the coals are white and ashy. Alternatively, heat a griddle pan over a high heat.
- Put the courgette strips in a bowl and drizzle with 1 tbsp oil; season. Toss well to coat. Griddle or barbecue the courgettes for 4-5 mins each side until picking up char lines and soft throughout, working in batches if needed. Transfer to a plate. Once cool enough to handle, cut into bite- sized pieces at an angle.
- Cook the pasta to pack instructions. Drain well and rinse with a little cold water to prevent the pieces sticking together. Tip into a bowl and drizzle with 1 tbsp oil; season. Add the lemon juice and tomatoes and toss well.
- Mash the yogurt, garlic, lemon zest and most of the salad cheese in a bowl with a fork until combined. Stir in the grated cucumber and most of the parsley.
- Toss the charred courgette pieces into the pasta salad. Add dollops of the cucumber yogurt and top with the remaining salad cheese and parsley and a crack of black pepper. Stir the cucumber yogurt through the pasta just before serving.
- See more Pasta salad recipes
